A New Era in Research into Aging, Focused on Intervention and Treatment

Past research into aging was characterized by a driving philosophy of "look but don't touch". Intervention in the aging process was presented as exclusively the domain of fraud, lies, and marketing, exemplified by the activities of anti-aging marketplace, all hope and non-functional potions. To treat aging was an aspiration that every scientist was strongly encouraged to avoid by those who controlled the research agenda and its funding. This was the case from at least the 1970s until comparatively recently. Only in the past decade or so has the scientific community come around to accept the treatment of aging as a possible, plausible, desirable goal. That change in attitude was sweeping and comprehensive. Now there is an increased level of funding for the study of mechanisms of aging, and the primary arguments held in public are are over how best to achieve a lengthening of the healthy human life spans. The first rejuvenation therapies have started the lengthy and expensive process of making their way out of the laboratory and into the clinic. Others will follow in the years ahead. These are the early years in an era of rejuvenation, in which the healthy human life span will leap upward as a result of treatments that address the molecular damage that drives aging. Research: A new era for research into aging Every major cause of death and disability in the developed world shares a greatest risk factor, and it is probably not what most people would think....
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs